America The Beautiful- America’s New and Improved National Anthem

There’s much light, open chatter about the national anthem and honoring it, respecting it, as an American cultural icon and symbol. Somebody referenced a document that spells out the “custom” of saluting the flag. In 2008, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled it unconstitutional to make this a legal requirement.

The music of the National Anthem came from a British artist, the country America was at war with at the time, and it was written for the War of 1812, not America’s independence. It was a war over economics that included slavery, and the exchange of prisoners between the US and Britain, who continued to interfere with our internal affairs.

The current National Anthem was approved by Woodrow Wilson in 1931. It’s a basic song that does not represent America. It does not represent America’s freedom, liberty, or independence. It talks about a little battle we won in Baltimore.

On the other hand, “America The Beautiful” does talk about liberty and its true meaning. It represents all that is good about our beautiful country. It talks about patriotism, God and grace, and brotherhood. It was not written by a foreigner like the current National Anthem, but by two American citizens – the words by Wellesley College professor Katharine Lee Bates in 1893, and the music by Samuel Ward in 1882. That is our true national anthem.